Rear suspension advice

[Disco Dan]

I'm pretty sure the rear shock is buggered - but how do I tell the difference between it needing adjustment and needing replacement?

Now I know flob all about suspension, let alone how to adjust it...

I found what I think is the dampening adjuster (see pic) and foolishly had a play around with it.

I spoke to a mechanic who said the rear needed adjustment as it takes too long to rise back after giving it a push. When riding, the rear steps out even over small bumps taking too long to touch the road again. Also, when I sit on it it sits very low and only a couple of centimeters lower and it bottoms out.

I gave the adjuster a few turns to see if I could make it rise quicker, but I got distracted half way through.. not sure which way to turn.. where it was originally and how to make it better...

I have flob all cash - so getting a professional to look at it and do it for me is out.

Is there some sort of method I can use to get it set up right?

[Disco Dan]

Now I dont know a lot about this subject, but i'm quite happy too turn things and adjust bits... I have a C-spanner but never really used it before...

[Tony.OK]

Not sure of what shock that is,but what your talking about is the rebound adjustment(too slow to return back up).Normally it is turned clockwise(in) to slow damping and anticlockwise(out) to speed it up.
Sounds to me like you've wound it in too far which is slowing the shocks rebound down too much,as a general basic setup I've always set the rebound to come up slightly slower than it'll go down when ya compress the back.
As for the height,is there a collar ontop of the shock spring?Either with a thread or with steps in it,moving the collar around with your C spanner to a lower step will put more preload on the spring and in turn increase the ride height.
All depends on the age of the shock and your weight(maybe the spring is too light).
Most good bike shops will be able to give ya advice and not charge you.
Just make a change to one thing at a time though,so you can feel what each adjustment does.
Its a black art the 'ole suspension,be careful testing and good luck:2thumbsup

[Disco Dan]

Not sure of what shock that is,but what your talking about is the rebound adjustment(too slow to return back up).Normally it is turned clockwise(in) to slow damping and anticlockwise(out) to speed it up.
Sounds to me like you've wound it in too far which is slowing the shocks rebound down too much,as a general basic setup I've always set the rebound to come up slightly slower than it'll go down when ya compress the back.
As for the height,is there a collar ontop of the shock spring?Either with a thread or with steps in it,moving the collar around with your C spanner to a lower step will put more preload on the spring and in turn increase the ride height.
All depends on the age of the shock and your weight(maybe the spring is too light).
Most good bike shops will be able to give ya advice and not charge you.
Just make a change to one thing at a time though,so you can feel what each adjustment does.
Its a black art the 'ole suspension,be careful testing and good luck:2thumbsup

Thank you, so that thing in the picture is the rebound.. ok. Will have a fiddle.

[Pussy]

Thank you, so that thing in the picture is the rebound.. ok. Will have a fiddle.

I would say that the compression damping adjustment will be on the reservoir (in the picture), and the rebound adjustment will be somewhere on the lower part of the shock... normally adjacent to the bottom mount

[fergie]

when i got my new bike it "bottomed" out when 2 up going into corners so i experimented with small turns of the knob till i was happy with it. took half a dozen rides to get right but i think it is worth the effort.i would not make too much of a radical change each time, small increments is best.

[Robert Taylor]

I'm pretty sure the rear shock is buggered - but how do I tell the difference between it needing adjustment and needing replacement?

Now I know flob all about suspension, let alone how to adjust it...

I found what I think is the dampening adjuster (see pic) and foolishly had a play around with it.

I spoke to a mechanic who said the rear needed adjustment as it takes too long to rise back after giving it a push. When riding, the rear steps out even over small bumps taking too long to touch the road again. Also, when I sit on it it sits very low and only a couple of centimeters lower and it bottoms out.

I gave the adjuster a few turns to see if I could make it rise quicker, but I got distracted half way through.. not sure which way to turn.. where it was originally and how to make it better...

I have flob all cash - so getting a professional to look at it and do it for me is out.

Is there some sort of method I can use to get it set up right?

Rebound is on the end eye at the bottom of the shaft. If the bike is a few years old and has done high ks the shock will very definitely have ''gone off'' irrespective of external adjustments.

[Disco Dan]

Found this interesting PDF, thought I would post it here:

http://www.gostar-racing.com/club/How_I_set_up_my_motorbike.pdf

How to set up suspension pdf


This is the actual settings for lots of bikes:

http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_street_bike_suspension_settings/index.html#kawasaki